Resistance welding metallic strips to metallic bodies



H. P. GIUIRL.

Aug. 145.

RESISTANCE W ELDING'METALLIC STRIPS TO METALLIC BODIES Filed Dec. 27, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 .WVENTOR Aug. 7, 1945. H. P. GUIRL. 2,331,742

RESISTANCE WELDING METALLIC STRIPS TQ METALLIC BODIES Filed Dec. 27, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 WEL DING CUR/BENT HTTUIPA EY ,smmz

H. P. GUERL RESISTANCE WELDING METALLIC STRIPS TO METALLIC BODIES 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec.

HTTOF/VE) H. P. GUIRL 2,381,742 RESISTANCE WELDING METALLIC STRIPS TO METALLIC 'BODIES Aug. 7, 1945.

Filed Dec. 27, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR flaumra I? fna'rl Patented Aug. 7,.1945

RESISTANCE WELDING METALLIC STRIPS TO METALLIC BODIES Howard P. Guiri, Munster, Ind., assignor to The Superheater Company, New York, N. Y.

'7 Application December 27, 1943, Serial No. 515,764

2 Claims. (01. 219-4) This invention relates to electrical resistance welding and particularly'to an improved apparatus for providing a metallic tube with radially applied solid metal fins or strengthening a metal- 11c sheet or bar with strips welded to its surface.

The provision of fins on fiuid circulating tubes increases the heat transfer from the fluid to a gas surrounding the fins, or the reverse, while the application of strips on a plate or bar serves to increase its structural strength. The invention will be described in detail as it applies to the welding of a fin or fins to a metallic tube carried out by resistance welding operating at high speed and with small labor and power requirements compared to other types of welding.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the welding of metallic fins to heat transfer tubes in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of. part of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 and illustrates the relation of the welding electrodes to the tube and a pair of diametrically positioned fins;

Figure 3 is an enlarged view similar to Figure 2 illustrating the arrangement of the welding electrode when a single narrow fin is applied to a tube at one time;

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of a-preferred form of welding apparatus for carrying out the fin welding method shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 5-5 in Figure G'andshows an end view they rotate.

' tween the rolls causes the edge i8 of the strip I0 electric current and the roll it to the other side oi. the power source. I rotated by suitable mechanical means acting through their shafis l6, l1 and pressure is applied as by means of air cylinders (not shown) to press the rolls toward each other while the bar II and strip iii are advanced between them as A heavy electric current passed beand the contiguous part of the bar H contacted thereby to heat up so as toproduce a high elecor a tube and related fins as they pass between a the welding electrodes;

Figure 6 is a view on an enlarged scale on the line 6-6 in Figure 4 and shows a tube and related fins passing between the electrodes as viewed in plan; and

Figure 7 is an enlarged view on the line II in Figure 6 and illustrates the driving mechanism for certain of the fin advancing rolls; and

Figure 8 is a sectional elevation on the line 8--8 in Figure 5 showing the work feeding devices and electrodes at the welding station.

In welding solid metallic members that are commercially available in the form of hot rolled strip to metallic bars or tubes, I have found that if a strip is narrow with respect to its thickness the fin or strip I0 (Fig. 3) may be welded to the tube or rod II by traversing its free longitudinal edge I! with a copper roll l3 shaped peripherally to fit the edge of the fin while a second'copper roll ll bears against the opposite side of the tube. The roll II is connected to one side of a source of trical resistance at this point. As the metal becomes hotter it softens, releasing some of the pressure at the point, oi contact so as to further increase the resistance and temperature. Finally the finor strip I0 and tube or bar I l attain a temperature where they fuse together under pressure applied by the rolls 13, I I. This action takes place intermittently or continuously depending upon the nature and manner of applying the electrical current.

With fins that are wide (radially) with respect to their thickness the path of the current passing between the welding electrodes or rolls ridin on the edge of the fin and wall of a tube would be so long that the resistance within the fin itself would exceed that at the contact point between fin and tube with the result that the center of the fin would melt before the current reached a high enough value to weld the edge of the fin to the tube. To avoid this difficulty the invention contemplates that welding electrodes in the form of rolls or discs 20 (Figs. 1 and 2) contact the side faces of the fins closely adjacent the point where the longitudinal edges 18 of the fin are pressed against the tube H so as to avoid the high resistance within a wide When the welding electrodes 20 contact the sides of the fin as shown in Figures 1 and 2 other rollers 2i contact its longitudinal edge I! for applying pressure and advancing the fin and tubes through the machine.

In operation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a tube l l and two diametrically positioned fins iii are inserted through the guide rolls which I I H tightly against the welding rolls 20 so that no heatingv occurs between the welding rolls 20 and fins 10. These rolls assure that the tube and fins The rolls l3 and I4 are are held in the correct position while being welded.

A more complete welding machine embodying these principles is shown in Figures 4 to 7. At the welding station there are grooved pressure an feed rolls 40 mounted in horizontal alinement on vertical shafts 4| mounted in crossheads 1' which will be referred to later. The rolls 40 are disposed to receive a metallic tube 42 and diametrically positioned fins 43 that are to be welded to the latter, the outer longitudinal edges of the fins being contacted by the grooved Portions of the feed rolls which press them against the tubeslz In advance of the welding station the tube and fins are supported and guided by rolls 44, 45, respectively (Fig, 6), carried by brackets 46 while at the-welding station there are tube guide rolls 41, shown in Figs. and 8 .but omitted for clarity in Figs. 4 and 6. Beyond the welding station other fin'utnd tube guide rolls are mounted in a bracket".

The feed rolls 4. are driven from a motor, not shown, through the universal-jointed shafts 50 which carry at their lower ends the gears Ii that drive idlers 52 (Fig. 6) meshing with gear teeth II on the periphery of the feed rolls 40. Rotary electrodes in the form of bevelled metallic discs '4 are mounted on inclined axes 55 above and below each feed roll 40 so' as to be engageable with opposite side faces of a fin 43 at a point between its outer longitudinal edge and the tube 42, preferably quite close to the latter. Each feed and pressure roll 40 and .the two associated electrode discs '54, I4 are all movable toward the flng and tubes as a, unit, being carried by a slide II which is guided for reciprocatory movement on the part 51 of the framework of the machine. The slide is connected with the free end of the piston of a hydraulic motor 89. Inasmuch as the welding apparatus for the fins at both sides of the tube are identical the following descrip-' tion will deal with the devices at only one side.

Each electrode wheel 54 is attached to a shaft I! mounted in a sleeve 60 which has pintles ii at either side (Fig. 6) for journalling it between the bifurcated arms 62 of a yoke 63 fixed to the slide 86. The conductors 64, I! for the welding current are connected to lugs 86 on the sleeves SI for thetwo upper welding discs. The associated feed and pressure roll 40 mounted between upper and lower welding discs 54 to ,bear against the edge of a fin at the side of the tube is movably mounted with respect to the welding discs and slide 58. its shaft 4i being joumalled in the crosshead 10 which has wear blocks H (Fig. 7) on its sides to guide it for movement towardand away from the tube in tracks 12 carried on the inner faces of the bifurcations 82 of yoke 83. As appears in Fig. 5, head II is formed with recesses receiving the cylindrical ends ll of yoke-like pitmans 14 that carry insulated rollers ll bearing against bevelled discs ll attached to the outer ends of the sleeves 80 that support the shaft 55 for the electrode discs 84. Below the trunnion 80 on the yoke arms 82 supporting the sleeve 60 of the lower welding disc 84 is a bracket-like projection 8i carrying adjustable stop screws 02 that are engageable with the sleeve 80 for this lower welding disc to hold it against clockwise movement beyond a predetermined adjusted position.

In operation a tubefl and a pair or fins 43 the outer face of the cross are inserted in proper linear relationship into the machine and are guided by the roll; 44, 41

and 45 respectively to a position where the outer longitudinal edges of the fins are engaged by the feeding and pressure rolls 40. At this time the slides ii are being pressed inwardly by the air cylinders 58 but held against stops which prevent their movement toward each other beyond positions separated by a distance slightly less than the measurement of the tube with a fin at either side thereof. As the tube 42 and fins 43 enter between the pressure rolls 40 the latter and the cross-heads 10 carrying them are pushed back outwardly between the arms 62 of the yokes 63. As the pitmans 14 attached to the outer faces of the cross-heads 68 move out with the latter, the rolls 15 carried by the pitmans become wedged between the bevelled inclines of two adjacent discs 16 thus forcing the rear ends of the bearing sleeves 80 apart and rotating the upper bearings about their trunnions soas to press the upper electrode discs 54 against the upper sides of the fins and forcing the fins against the lower welding electrode discs. At this time the bearings 60 for the lower welding disc 54 do not turn about their trunnions since they are held by their stop screws 82. At this point the welding current is turned on, preferably automatically by appropriate mechanism, not shown.

The current passes from.the conductor N to the top bearing 60 at the right and thence into the top of the fin through the right top welding wheel 54. The current also flows from the trunnions or this upper bearing through the support yoke bifurcations 62 into the bearing for the lower electrode wheel and thence into the bottom of the fin through the lower welding electrode disc. Thence the current passes from the fin into the tube and through to the fin at the opposite side thereof and into the related electrodes and thence to the conductor u that is attached to the upper bearing at the left. No current passes through the pressure and feed rolls or the cross-heads ID in which they are mounted since these parts are insulated electrically from the electrode disc SI and associated parts by means of the insulating sleeves on the shaft for the rollers 15 carried by the pitmans associated with the cross-heads and by the insulating members 83 mounted between the yokes i3 and the slides II. The electrode discs 64 are turned by frictional contact with the fins as the! I the machine.

If, when welding wide fins to tubes, the fin is straight as the weld is started, the weld joint be tween the fin and tube may be very weak at the starting point at the end of the fin but increases in strength as welding proceeds to a point several inches from the start. As disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 475,520 filed February 11, 1943, this condition is corrected as by imposing a semi-permanent curvature on the fin prior to welding so as to cause the fin or fins to diverge from the tube beyond the contacting ends in a continuous curve as appears in Figure 6. This has the effect of allowing only a small part along the length of a fin to be in contact with the tube the current passed between the rolls fiows through this point making a weld of consistent strength at the start. If such curvature is not employed, the current may pass through numerous points or along arelatively long line of contact between the fin and tube so that not enough current flows at any point to produce a weld. Under this condition as the work progresses from the starting point the fin and tube diverge due to the curvature of the fin from the welding process and a point is reached where the pressure between fin and tube is low enough to again cause heating of fin edge and tube, resulting in a weld at that point. This process continues along the length of the work. By increasing the curvature of the fin, the points at which welds take place can be moved closer together. This is because the divergence of fin and tube in greater, thereby decreasing the distance between the preceding weld and the point at which pressure becomes light enough to cause a similar weld. The above discussion assumes constant pressure from the pressure rolls and constant current conditions. It is possible, though, to change the weld spacing by means of changes in roll pressure, assuming that fin curvature and current conditions are held constant. A lighter pressure causes closer weld spacing. with fin curvature and pressure constant, some variation in weld spacing is possible by varying values of current. Besides varying values of current the intermittent application of current permits even wider variation in welding conditions. It is possible to synchronize the speed of travel of the work with the frequency of application of current in such a way that the current is applied at the instant when the pressure conditions between fin and tube are correct for welding. This results in an increase of strength and consistency of welds and in an economy of electric power. When using alternating current, the alternations themselves may be used to produce intermittent applications of welding current, or the current may be switched off and on with several cycles of the power frequency included in both the on and of! P riods. s

What I claim is: I

1. Welding apparatus for Joining metallic strip memberssuchasfinsofrectangularcross-section to a metallic body such as a heat transfer tube;

means for guiding the tube and fins to the welding station with the fins extending longitudinally of said tube and contacting the latter along their narrowest faces; a pair of rotary electrode discs located at the welding station at either side of said tube adjacent the path of one of said fins, the electrode discs of either pair being so disposed as to engage opposite side faces of the adjacent fin close to its juncture with said tube; means supportingsaid electrode discs out of the positions in which they contact said fins; means responsive to the engagement of said feed wheels with the longitudinal faces of said fins for moving said discs into contact with the side faces of said fins; a pair of spaced work feeding and guide wheels mounted in alinement at the welding station each formed to engage the outer longitudinal face of one of the pair of said fins; and electrical means for conducting a welding current into said discs to pass through said fins and said body for welding them together.

2. Welding apparatus for joining metallic strip members such as fins of rectangular cross-section to a metallic body such as a heat transfer tube; means for guiding the tube and fins to the welding station with the fins extending longitudinally of said tube and contacting the latter along their narrowest faces; a pair of rotary electrode discs located at the welding station at either side of said tube adjacent the path of one of said fins, the electrode discs of either pair being so disposed as to engage opposite side faces of the adjacent fin close to its juncture with said tube; means supporting the electrode discs out of the positions in which they contact said fins; a pair of spaced work feeding and guide wheels mounted in alinement at the welding station each formed to engage the outer longitudinal face of one of the pair of said fins; means operable by said feed wheels upon their engagement with said fins for moving said electrode discs into contactwlth the side faces. of said fins; and electrical means for conducting a welding current into said discs to pass through said fins and them together.

HOWARD P. GUIRL.

saidbodyforwelding' 

